Treasury Review of Benchmark's Manus Investment

The Treasury review showed that Manus was not just another fast growing AI startup, it had become a test case for whether U.S. money could still back a China linked AI company after the new outbound investment regime took effect. Benchmark led a $75 million Series B in April 2025 while Manus was shifting its center of gravity to Singapore, but the company still carried Chinese roots, Chinese investors, and AI exposure that fit the exact policy area Treasury was screening.1 2 3 4

• The relevant rules came from President Biden's August 9, 2023 order, then became effective on January 2, 2025. Treasury's program covers certain U.S. investments tied to China, Hong Kong, or Macau in AI, semiconductors, and quantum, with some deals prohibited and others requiring notice.2 3
• That made Manus unusually sensitive for a U.S. venture round. It was founded in China, earlier backers included Tencent, HongShan, and ZhenFund, and the company only relocated its headquarters to Singapore in 2025. In practice, Treasury would care less about the marketing location and more about who controlled the entity, where the work happened, and what AI capabilities were being built.1 4 5
• The review also foreshadowed the ownership drama that followed. By late 2025 Meta announced a deal to buy Manus for more than $2 billion, then by April 2026 China blocked that acquisition on national security grounds. Manus ended up caught between two governments that both treated advanced AI ownership as strategically important.1 4

Going forward, cross border AI financings will increasingly be judged like regulatory transactions, not just venture bets. For companies like Manus, the cleanest path to global capital is a corporate structure, operating footprint, and model supply chain that look unmistakably non Chinese long before the next round or exit process begins.1 2 4